Clock Time Work Back Ticking Finish Struck Showing

• the clock struck twelve/midnight.
• the clock is fast/slow (= showing a time later/earlier than the true time).
• the clock has stopped.
• the clock is right/wrong.

clock

1. an instrument for measuring and showing time, in a room, on the wall of a building or on a computer screen (not worn or carried like a watch)
• SEE ALSO 24-hour clock
  https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/24-hour-clock
• The clock struck twelve/midnight.
• The clock is fast/slow (= showing a time later/earlier than the true time).
• The clock has stopped.
• The clock is right/wrong.
• My clock said 9.02.
• It was ten past six by the kitchen clock.
• the clock face (= the front part of a clock with the numbers on)
• The hands of the clock crept slowly around.
• The sound of a clock ticking somewhere in the house kept him awake.
• Ellen heard the loud ticking of the clock in the hall.
• She checked the time on the clock.

Extra Examples

• Her clock told her it was time to get up.
• His countdown clock reads forty seconds.
• It's ten o'clock by the kitchen clock.
• Pressing the 'Yes‘ or 'No‘ response button stops the clock.
• Pressing the buzzer stops the clock.
• That clock's fast.
• The clock on the mantelpiece said twelve o'clock.
• The clock struck the hour.
• This clock doesn't keep time.
2. the milometer in a vehicle (= an instrument that measures the number of miles the vehicle has travelled)
• a used car with 20 000 miles on the clock
3. if you do something against the clock, you do it fast in order to finish before a particular time
• It was a race against the clock to get the building work finished in time.
• to work against the clock
4. all day and all night without stopping
• Staff have been working around the clock to resolve the problems.
5. to finish a task, race, etc. before a particular time
• The player beat the clock and set a new record.
6. to beat somebody at something
• She really cleaned his clock in that debate.
7. to physically attack someone
• Rosario delivered a blow that cleaned his clock, leaving him disabled.
8. used to say that there's not much time left before something happens
• The clock is ticking down to midnight on New Year’s Eve.
• The clock is ticking for one mystery lottery winner who has less than 24 hours to claim a £64 million prize.
9. the time changes officially, for example at the beginning and end of summer
• The clocks go back tonight.
10. to return to a situation that existed in the past; to remember a past age
• I wish we could turn the clock back two years and give the marriage another chance.
• Let's turn back the clock to the last decade.
11. to return to old-fashioned methods or ideas
• The new censorship law will turn the clock back 50 years.
12. to change the time shown by clocks, usually by one hour, when the time changes officially, for example at the beginning and end of summer
• Remember to put your clocks back tonight.
13. a situation in which you have to do something or finish something very fast before it is too late
• Getting food to the starving refugees is now a race against time.
14. if a sports team tries to run down/out the clock at the end of a game, it stops trying to score and just tries to keep hold of the ball to stop the other team from scoring
• COMPARE time-wasting
  https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/time-wasting
15. to stop measuring time in a game or an activity that has a time limit
16. to be careful not to work longer than the required time; to think more about when your work will finish than about the work itself
• SEE ALSO clock-watcher
  https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/clock-watcher
• employees who are always watching the clock

Word Origin

• late Middle English: from Middle Low German and Middle Dutch klocke, based on medieval Latin clocca ‘bell’.